My first reaction is that the Budget seems to follow the dictum "you take some, you give some." There is an exemption for anyone with a taxable income up to Rs 100,000.

Even then people will have to file tax returns. If your taxable income is below Rs 100,000, then you will have your income-tax liability automatically rebated.

This might lead to a certain revenue loss. But the two per cent education cess across-the-board seeks to improve tax revenues by Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion).

Whether that will happen remains to be seen.

My feeling is that the Centre has done its homework. I expect the implications of the new tax proposals to be either neutral or positive.

There is also an increase in service tax to 10 per cent. So for all practical purposes, the cost of living for the ordinary man has gone up by 2 per cent.

The government has decided to retain a stable interest rate regime, which was expected. In this case it is more like "no news is good news."

The higher rates for senior citizens is also nothing new. In any case they were getting the same rates under the Varishta Bima pension scheme.

Another across-the-board measure, is the introduction of turnover tax on securities transactions. How that will pan out is anybody's guess.

There are certain areas in that section which needs clarification. Before this Budget, long-term capital losses could have been carried forward for eight years and set off against gains. However, that provision is gone now.

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